Duke and Anna were married in a LAVISH Scottish ceremony in 1987. Ian Buchanan played Duke from 1986-89, then was recast with a different face (he said it was witness protection surgery). Duke owned "Duke's Club" which was a money laundering place for--the mob. She fell for the mob guy while being co-police chief. He worked for Victor Jerome. There's a lot more on Wikipedia, just search "Duke Lavery"
From an interview excerpt from We Love Soaps...read it all!
We Love Soaps: Why do you think Duke and Anna were such a huge phenomenon?
Ian Buchanan:
I think we are very similar, which is kind of weird. We trusted each other immediately. We worked really well together. We were there for each other, which was great. She was very supportive of me, she wanted me to get the job. She was pretty amazing. We were instantly, and still are, the closest of friends. I think people related to that. And we were British. They liked the dark hair, the unibrow. Finola always said, “If Duke and Anna ever had a child, it would have been an eyebrow.”
I think Ewan looks just like Duke, btw! That's an observation--not a promise. Look at Anna's HAIR UP THERE!! LMAO!
THERE'S AN ANNA AND DUKE site on the net! click that link!
By the way..we don't know yet if Duke saved Robin by taking her-- or is the ultimate villain in this. He could just be a part of a bigger arc. Just saying hang on-- !
Anna's best hubby- better'n Robert or David.
ReplyDeleteI loved Duke and Anna back then!!! Then he became Jonathan Paget, and then when died in Anna's arms, I was devastated!! It was hard to watch. I watched it months and months ago, and felt the same way. I can't watch that scene ever again. :(
ReplyDeleteI still hold out that Faison and Helena are tied into this as well...especially Faison...he has such a history with Anna and Robert
ReplyDeleteSo, let me get this straight. Original Duke had plastic surgery to go into the witness protection program and looked totally different.
ReplyDeleteThen, he had plastic surgery to get his original face back?
I must admit. the new surgery looked flawless. Just like the original!
I had that Soap Opera Digest. Duke and Anna seemed so sophisticated to me, and they had chemistry to burn. I remember their first storyline, the Burt Ramsey/Mr. Big story, the best. But I also recall some kind of Fatal Attraction type story with his ex, who was played by the same actress who later played Alex on OLTL.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching Panic Room in a theater and saying "Duke!" He's the owner at the beginning, who first shows Jodie Foster the panic room.
I can't imagine Duke being the big baddie in all of this. Not the Duke I remember.
Didn't realize that Ian Buchanan had been fired from Days. I gotta hand it to the GH showrunners - bringing him back like that was a stroke of GENIUS, even if I was never the biggest fan of the character. I was flat out floored when he appeared with Ian playing the part to boot! WELL PLAYED GH!
ReplyDeleteThe only misgiving in all of this that I have is that with Anna now involved with Luke and presumably Duke back on the canvas, there will be no pairing with Robert in the near future anyway. I always like the smart-ass chemistry between her and Tristan the best!
Still, THIS IS GOOD STUFF, and was a great surprise. I'll be watching!
OldSchoolGHfan
BTW, check out the below article re: the return of Duke...Looks like that Jonathan Paget was an imposter and that the real Duke was always Ian.
ReplyDelete-OldSchoolGHfan
http://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/tv/tvguide/article/Exclusive-General-Hospital-Chief-Valentini-3818875.php
Watch on you tube: General Hospital promo week 8/27/12. IT is an extended version of what's to come and is exciting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing that article OldSchoolGHFan! I had a feeling that would end up being the case; I never "felt" Duke from Paget and it seemed easy to write that off as fake from the start.
ReplyDeleteI do hope they don't plan to make Duke into a bad guy in this, but it's definitely going to be crazy to try and work out him being alive, and keeping the fact that Robin is a secret as well, while maintaining the charm that Duke always had that made all of his mistakes so easy to forgive.
I am sad to read that we won't see him for 5 weeks after this, but I couldn't be looking forward to it more!!
I hope it's okay to share links... Apologies if I'm breaking a major rule with these, but anyone who wants to catch up on the Duke and Anna history can watch the playlists from here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/robertannafan/videos?sort=dd&flow=list&page=1&view=1
Everything from 86 Early Duke and Anna until '89 will catch you up on their history.
His "return" with a new face can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G05sCvEOxCo&feature=BFa&list=PL2FB369EAD344E62D
I am so excited to see him back!
@skeebob, I had that issue too. I loved Anna and Duke back in the day. I sure hope we don't have to wait five weeks to see him again. There must be a good explanation why he has Robin. He can't be the villian.
ReplyDeleteAnon said...BTW, check out the below article re: the return of Duke...Looks like that Jonathan Paget was an imposter and that the real Duke was always Ian.
ReplyDelete==========================
Yeah I read it!! WOOT WOOT! :) The writers are fixing that wrong! :) Maybe I can watch Jonathan Paget's death scene again after all! :) Knowing it's not really Duke! :)
I can't imagine why he has Robin or why he is working with Jerry Jax. But I'm sure RC will concoct something. The Duke that I remember would never hurt Robin. I LOVED Duke and Anna's wedding.
ReplyDeleteHe was the original mob guy that was a "good man"
We are not going to see him again until October? So, they are going to drag this whole Robin thing out until November Sweeps? I guess I should have expected that. Sigh.